


Bowl of Ramen

by rintachii



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Aobajousai, Friendship/Love, Heavy Angst, M/M, Ramen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 09:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26969497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rintachii/pseuds/rintachii
Summary: "Can I finally eat that special bowl of ramen you promised me on the 16th of April?" Was Oikawa's last text."I'll never make ramen in my whole lifetime again." Were Iwaizumi's last words for him.Wherein bored 1st year Oikawa Tooru, a new addition to Seijoh's volleyball team happens to find Iwaizumi Hajime's family restaurant while wandering around the streets of Miyagi in the rain.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Bowl of Ramen

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! i just felt like writing angst so to make it even sadder, listen to this while reading!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2twPX3and_A

ACT 1 - _**LOST IN MIYAGI**_

It was the winter of 2010, Oikawa Tooru was lost after roaming around the streets of Miyagi. It was a series of misfortunes for the young boy, he was lost and drenched because of the very heavy rain; it was also freezing cold and he was shivering so much. How'd this happen? It just so happens that Hanamaki had recommended a nice restaurant but Tooru ended up getting lost while trying to find it.

"That damned Hanamaki- he could've given me more detailed instructions on how to get there but he just had to make it vague. Laugh while you can, asshole... i'll be sure to kick your ass tomorrow." Oikawa grumbled while wrapping his arms tightly around his shivering body.

He was about to lose all hope and retire for the day but he noticed a sensational aroma from a restaurant right across the sidewalk he trudged on. Upon scanning the restaurant's sign, his eyes widened.

"That must be it!" He exclaimed, eyes brightening while finally moving from his spot to cross the street.

"Welcome! Please take a seat and i'll be there in a second to take your orde- Oikawa Tooru?" Iwaizumi's went out of the kitchen while tying on his apron but the moment he caught sight of the brown-haired boy, he stood baffled.

Oikawa's scrunched his eyebrows together, "you're Iwaizumi Hajime right? I think we're in the same class... oh! but I haven't really seen you lately. That's weird, you're always present... which is actually really scary by the way, like how do you not get bored of classes?"

Iwa resisted the urge to chuckle, thinking Oikawa would perceive it as him making fun of him, but he thought of how adorable it was when Oikawa rambled. Iwa always knew that he was the talkative type. Though he didn't chuckle, he still had a smile on his face which immediately dropped when he noticed the state Oikawa was in. 

"You must be freezing, do you want me to lend you some clothes to change into before you take your order?"

"Is it alright? Am I not being a burden to you right now?"

"No, never." Though the last part came out as a whisper, Oikawa heard it loud and clear.

"I'll be back with a new set of clothes, wait here. It's rather warm here so make yourself comfortable."

Oikawa nodded and smiled gratefully at his schoolmate, taking a seat on one of the many vacant tables in the restaurant. He never knew Iwa's family ran a restaurant, in fact... he didn't know much about Iwaizumi at all. His eyes skimmed the place, the interior design was minimal and traditional but there were family portraits. He stood up to take a better look at the portrait. There was a woman, who seemed to be Iwa's mom, smiling brightly with a tiny Hajime in her arms while the man beside her, which Oikawa assumed to be his father had a dissatisfied expression. It was almost as if his father was not happy with his family, but Tooru brushed off the thought and took another look at the baby in the woman's arms. 

"How cute," he mindlessly uttered. 

"Oikawa? Oh, I see you've seen my family portrait." Iwaizumi approached him, handing over the neatly folded clothes he held. Oikawa bowed, thanking him for the clothes.

"You were wondering a while ago why I wasn't at school much nowadays right? Well... I had to take care of the restaurant."

"Oh, are your parents out?"

"My mom died, and my father left."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine, go get changed and I'll make you something delicious."

That day, Oikawa had the best meal in his entire life, that day he thought that getting lost and meeting Iwaizumi was worth it.

ACT 2 - _**DAYS OF PEACE**_

A year passed, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were finally third years. Iwa came back to school 2 weeks after Oikawa first came to his restaurant and ended up joining the volleyball team with him. Though his days were hectic, Iwaizumi made time to run the restaurant after practice. Especially for Oikawa, Iwaizumi made sure to clear up his schedule if it came down to anything regarding Oikawa Tooru.

It was another cloudy morning, the two boys secretly snuck into the rooftop to enjoy the lunches Iwaizumi made. Ever since they became friends, Iwa always made their lunches and Oikawa would walk with Iwa back to the restaurant after practice. 

"Hey Shittykawa, here's you lunch."

"Stop calling me that! And, thanks."

None of them said anything about it but they knew they had feelings for each other. Iwaizumi already liked Oikawa the moment he heard him laugh when he was across the classroom on their first day of freshman year and Oikawa developed feelings for the other after continuously coming to visit him and the restaurant. But the both of them were content the way they were, the comfortable silence while eating, the playful teasing, the understood care they had for each other, all of it was already perfect. That was the conclusion the both of them came up with for themselves, though they've never really talked about it... they just knew.

"Ahh, I've been craving ramen lately. No actually, ramen's suddenly taking the number one spot on my list of favourite things to eat." Oikawa spoke out of the blue.

Iwa stiffened at the mention of ramen, memories of his childhood came rushing in like a tsunami. "Ramen... was my father's favourite and my mother's best dish."

"Was there anything that i missed? We talked about our families before but was there anything you haven't told me? I mean, it's fine if you don't want to say anything yet but like I've told you before, i've already introduced you to my mom and she wants to meet you!"

Iwa chuckled, he was rambling again but he loved it when he did. "My mother had this special recipe for ramen, she worked really hard to come up with it and please my father. She actually died trying her best to please a man who fell out of love with her. It kind of broke my heart, how she prepared every meal with so much love and care only for it to be wasted or thrown out."

Oikawa kept silent, it was the first he's heard of the tragic side of Iwaizumi's family situation. Up until now, all Iwa ever talked about were happy memories. 

"Before she passed, she left me the recipe and told me to make it for the person I'll love in my whole lifetime but my father hid the recipe before he abandoned me." 

"Will you... um... make me that bowl of ramen?" Oikawa asked, unsure of whether or not it was right to.

"on the 16th of April, before the spring tournament."

"Why do I have to wait so long though?"

"The 16th of April was when my mother first served this bowl of ramen, it was the day she told my father she loved him dearly. So I hope you'll be patient with me because I'll make you the best bowl of Ramen and show you my genuine feelings. So please, wait for me."

"I promise I'll wait, I look forward to it." Oikawa smiled warmly.

"Oh, and I'm quitting volleyball. It's getting harder to manage the restaurant and go to practice."

"I understand, so i'll make sure to go to nationals and make you proud. Then we'll eat as many bowls of ramen to celebrate our victory." 

The bell rung, the boys looked at each other with fond smiles and started cleaning up; both made mental notes to mark their calendars of April 16th.

ACT 3 - _**APRIL 16TH**_

It was the eve of April 16th and Iwaizumi was still up trying to perfect the long awaited dish he'd serve Oikawa tomorrow.

While cleaning up, his phone buzzed.

 **Shittykawa** _04/16/2012 12:03am_  
Can I finally eat that special bowl of ramen you promised me on the 16th of April?

Iwa chuckled, Oikawa was definitely impatient. He slept tight, unaware of the tragedy thay had passed that night. 

Hours later, Iwa woke up right before 2 in the afternoon. He cursed at how late he woke up and immediate rushed to the kitchen to prepare. He spend the entire afternoon making the bowl of ramen that Oikawa had desperately wished to eat. 

After putting on the finishing touches, he carried the dish into the dining area of the restaurant and waited patiently, believing that Oikawa would come sooner or later. 

An hour had passed and there was still no sign of the Brunet. So, to pass the time, Iwa turned on the television and continued to wait patiently. 

Several more hours passes and Oikawa was yet to show. Iwa looked at the ramen he spent hours on making, observing how the seaweed he put as a finishing touch had already sank, the broth had become oily, the egg had sunk and it's yolk had dissolved, and it was no longer steaming hot. 

He only stared at it with disdain. 'Was he too confident?' 'Did Tooru not actually feel the same?' 'But he texted, but he said he'd come.' These were the thoughts that failed to leave his mind. He knew love wasn't perfect, he learned that the hard way from his parents, but he wished loving Oikawa was different. He desperately wished.

It was no use moping over it, so he picked up the bowl and started to head to the kitchen.

_"This just in, a famous volleyball captain, Oikawa Tooru, was found dead in his home. The police has this confirmed to be theft. The robber took a chance after knowing that the young boy's parents were out, broke in and stabbed the resident, running away with the Oikawas' valuable assets right after."_

The sound of porcelain falling to the floor resonated within the Iwaizumi Family Restaurant. He turned his head slowly, unable to believe what he heard. But the moment his eyes met the screen, he saw Tooru, his Tooru's face on the news. Was it real? Was the reason he never came was because he really couldn't? Was he really gone? 

It took Iwaizumi a moment before everything finally could finally sink in. Tears started to fall and his vision clouded, all he could feel was the unbearable pain in his chest. Iwaizumi screamed, clutching his head and pulling his hair. Oikawa was dead. 

He lifted himself up and started trashing things around, he kicked chairs, pushed tables, ripped menus, he tried to destroy everything thay reminded him of oikawa, from the spots where he sat down to eat to the menu of the dishes he came in to try everyday. 

Iwaizumi broke down completely, falling to his knees then falling unconscious on the floor. 

ACT 4 - _**FINALE**_

2 whole months had passed since Oikawa Tooru's death. Iwaizumi was never able to attend his funeral and only got back to attending school a few weeks ago. Even his closest friend after Tooru, Hanamaki, was desperate to help him feel better. 

After being in denial for two whole months, Hanamaki had succeeded in convincing Iwa to get proper closure and visit the Oikawa residence. 

And so, there he was, in front of the very house Tooru was murdered in. It brought him chills, and his heart sunk. He heard that the Oikawas were going to move next week, after all... it was hard to stay in a house where their son died, so Iwa knew that his last chance at getting that closure.

He mustered up all the courage he had left and rung the doorbell before he could turn away. Moments later, the gate opened to reaveal a woman in her late thirties; her eyes were sunken, her complexion was pale, she was Tooru's mother and her son's death had taken a toll on her physical and mental health.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Iwaizumi Hajime, I was Tooru's best friend and... the boy he loved." Iwa introduced himself, reluctant to utter the last part but he still ended up doing so.

For a second, Mrs. Oikawa's eyes brightened. "So you're the Iwa-chan Tooru always bragged about. I wondered at times what was so great about you but seeing you like this, I can see why he loved you a lot."

"Oh, how so?"

"A mother's intuition I guess? But oh dear, you weren't at the wake and you didn't come to the funeral, didn't you?"

"I- I just couldn't, I might've gone mad if i saw him breathless. All this time he joked about me taking his breath away, who knew this would happen..."

"He was such a lively boy... h-he didn't deserve to have his life taken like this." Mrs. Oikawa was on the verge of tears.

Iwaizumi looked down and bit his lip, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I'd invite you inside but I think it'll be hard for you to breathe easy inside just as much it's hard for us to. Stay here for a moment, i'll get his phone and hand it over to you. I recall that my son often had texts he never sent, you must want to read them."

"Thank you, I'll wait here." Iwaizumi reassured her with a smile. Though it was obvious that it was forced, Mrs. Oikawa appreciated it nonetheless. 

Minutes after the woman went inside, she came out holding a black flip phone. "Here, take it. My husband and I still need to pack, but thank you for coming here today. It was really brave of you even if its still an open wound. Tooru's lucky to have met a boy like you, i just wish that the day he'd introduce you to us himself could've actually come." 

"Thank you for giving me a bit of your time and thank you for the phone. Please take care. Then, i'll be going." 

Iwa bowed to the woman and turned his back, his heart sinking even more as he held Tooru's phone with his left hand. Slowly, he brought it in front of him and opened it. The phone turned on, and he carefully went to the drafts. 

**Iwa-chan** _01/26/2010_  
hey iwa-chan, i didn't tell you this but i've already started looking at you the moment you stepped into our classroom on the first day of school. 

**Iwa-chan** _02/27/2010_  
i liked the tonkatsu you made, it tasted like home. god you're handsome, nice, considerate, and even good at cooking!! this is so unfair hmph... and even if you keep teasing me, i like it because i like you.

 **Iwa-chan** _03/17/2010_  
you looked really tired today so i lied about practice being postponed. instead of resting, you ran the restaurant until you practically dropped. i endured the scolding for you, take the fucking hint that i'm worried for you and rest please.

 **Iwa-chan** _07/02/2011_  
I'm in love with you Iwaizumi Hajime.

 **Iwa-chan** _03/21/2012_  
i'll be sure to make you happy, so i'll wait for April 16th just like i promises. i will keep loving you even until you get tired of me. what you're worrying about will never happen, i'll never leave you.

"You dumbass, i'll never get tired of you." Iwaizumi said, wiping his tears with his arm.

 **Iwa-chan** _04/15/2012 11:46pm_  
someday, find somebody else to serve that bowl of ramen for. It's hard for me to hand you over to someone else but i love you.

Iwa stood frozen, this was Tooru's last and final draft, this was right before he was killed by the theif who broke in. In that moment, Iwa finally knew what he wanted to say to Oikawa as a farewell.

"I'll never make ramen in my whole lifetime again." Were Iwaizumi's last words for him.

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for taking your time to read Bowl of Ramen, hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
